All posts tagged Japan

It’s South Korea’s most-watched movie of all time and taps into a surge in nationalist sentiment against Japan. But not every Korean is enjoying it.

Descendants of a Korean admiral portrayed as a traitor in “Roaring Currents,” a movie that depicts and embellishes a well-known naval victory against Japanese invaders in 1597, have filed a request to the police to investigate whether the characterization of their forebear in the film constitutes defamation. Read More »

As Apple’s new large-screen iPhone starts to hit shelves around the world, the latest Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 4 smartphone has also—quietly—begun presales. But the odds don’t look great for the Note.

“Reviews on the new iPhone are just getting better and better, as more customers get their hands on them,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst with IBK Securities in Seoul. Read More »

South Korea plans to publish a white paper on women forced into sexual slavery by Japan’s military during World War II., the first such report in more than two decades that may fuel tensions between the North Asian neighbors. Read More »

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faced little resistance from opposition parties when he set out this year to expand Japan’s military role, but he did have a challenge winning over his own coalition partner, New Komeito. Japan Real Time spoke with Kazuo Kitagawa, New Komeito’s vice president and top negotiator with the LDP on Mr. Abe’s constitutional reinterpretation, about what the new military role means and how Japan can bring about a thaw in ties with its neighbors. Read More »

This week, Japan adopted a controversial policy that will relax restrictions on its military. Bruce Bennett of the RAND Corporation argues the move is important to the defense of South Korea and the Northeast Asia region. Read More »

The agonizing issue of “comfort women” has burst back into the open with a controversial review by the Japanese government of its landmark 1993 apology to the victims.

Peipei Qiu, a professor of Chinese and Japanese at Vassar College, has offered new insights into one of the most traumatic aspects of Japan’s World War II aggression in a book co-authored with two China-based scholars.

As Chinese research into this brutal chapter of wartime history gathers intensity, Beijing is likely to become more vocal on an issue that already deeply divides Japan and South Korea. Read More »

South Korea has been infuriated by Japan’s decision to publish an account of diplomatic exchanges leading up to Tokyo’s historic 1993 apology for wartime sexual slavery. One expert says one of the most worrying outcomes of the latest spat could be a breakdown in effective diplomatic coordination between Seoul and Tokyo. Read More »

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Korea Real Time provides sharp analysis and insight into what’s making news on the Korean peninsula. We chronicle the growing pains of South Korea — a country that has skyrocketed into the club of the world’s richest nations but now faces significant headwinds, and shine a spotlight on one of the world’s biggest geopolitical flashpoints: North Korea. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, we’ll tell the stories behind the headlines in business, economics, politics, culture and lifestyle. You can contact the editors at korearealtime@wsj.com